Maomao was momentarily stunned.
Faced with Aunt Ruxue's question, she chose this time to confront her true feelings:
"Aunt Ruxue, I want to stay here long-term... is that... okay?"
Lin Yu took a deep breath, silently cheering for Maomao in his heart.
For most people,
making requests to their "parents" might be an utterly trivial matter—
so insignificant it barely even counts as a request.
But Lin Yu understood just how much courage it took for Maomao to voice her true thoughts at this moment.
Or perhaps it would be better to consider courage from another angle...
From Aunt Ruxue's perspective, the one posing the question also needed immense bravery!
Ever since meeting Maomao and Aunt Ruxue, Lin Yu had pieced together their story using the information they provided and the insights from his dreams.
One had faced discrimination abroad.
The other had lost her parents after growing old enough to understand.
Two people who had endured profound emotional pain had become each other's light in their respective worlds.
The adult was learning how to love.
The child was trying to reclaim love.
No matter how you looked at it,
judging by their current relationship, the beautiful memories far outweighed the hardships.
At this moment,
the one attempting to let go must have been suffering far more than the one striving for independence.
So, Aunt Ruxue needed even greater courage than Maomao.
Du Ruxue's expression revealed neither joy nor anger as she replied calmly:
"Sure, staying long-term at Mengmeng’s place sounds like a good idea to me."
Maomao’s tense body instantly relaxed.
She finally understood what it meant to feel a weight lift off her shoulders.
"But..."
Du Ruxue’s tone shifted, making Maomao’s heart leap again.
Everything before "but" could be ignored—
what came after was the real point to remember!
As if deliberately building suspense, Du Ruxue picked up her glass, took a sip of water, and paused before speaking.
The moment she set the glass down...
it was as if a switch had been flipped...
A server who had been completely out of sight suddenly appeared like a ghost beside their table.
"Honored guests, may I refill your water?"
Without waiting for a response, the server began pouring.
Lin Yu watched with deep admiration.
"......"
"Thank you."
Once the water was poured, Du Ruxue finally continued:
"But you’ve never lived independently before. I can’t rest easy leaving you alone out here."
"If you can’t even find your way around, how can you learn to take care of yourself?"
Maomao lowered her head, her heart heavy with disappointment.
Sigh.
So even speaking her mind couldn’t change the outcome.
Aunt Ruxue’s words were undeniably true, leaving Maomao no room to argue.
Her ability to manage daily life was practically nonexistent.
Staying inside the apartment without going out would, of course, prevent any mishaps.
But Maomao asked herself...
Was what she truly wanted just moving from one big, empty house to another crowded one?
Stepping out would only mean walking into another kind of confinement.
Yet.
The conversation wasn’t over.
Du Ruxue spoke again:
"So, to make you give up completely, I prepared three challenges for you last night!"
"For the next week, I’ll stay in Pingchuan City."
"If you complete all three, it’ll prove you’re capable of living independently."
"Your request will be granted—you can stay as long as you want."
"But if you fail, you’ll come home with me without complaint."
"And for the next three years, you won’t bring up living away again."
Maomao: "!!!"
Hearing this, Maomao’s eyes instantly lit up.
There was still a chance?
It wasn’t over yet!
The direction of her future life was still in her own hands!
"Deal, Aunt Ruxue! I accept!"
Without even hearing what the challenges were, Maomao agreed immediately.
Lin Yu wasn’t entirely surprised by this outcome.
At least from yesterday’s interactions, it was clear Aunt Ruxue wasn’t entirely indifferent to Maomao’s feelings.
But this woman... she was so contradictory!
Even Lin Yu couldn’t tell whether she wanted Maomao to succeed or fail.
Maybe she didn’t even know herself.
One thing was certain, though...
Aunt Ruxue understood Maomao inside out!
Using a "competition" or "challenge" to motivate the stubbornly competitive Maomao to give it her all—
only someone who had her completely figured out could devise such a tactic.
Lin Yu took a sip from his glass, savoring the complexity of this bond that transcended a typical mother-daughter relationship.
Just then,
the familiar server materialized beside him again,
repeating the same script—and giving him a minor heart attack in the process.
Seeing Maomao’s newfound confidence, Du Ruxue scoffed:
"Maomao, don’t mistake this for kindness."
"It’s just a little game to make you face reality."
"Let’s start with the first challenge. If you pass, we’ll move to the next."
"If you can’t even clear the first one, the rest won’t matter."
Instantly,
all eyes turned to Du Ruxue.
Maomao leaned forward intently, not wanting to miss a single word.
Then,
Du Ruxue revealed the challenge:
"The first task..."
"Spend 30 million yuan within 24 hours."
"Use it to buy 'daily necessities' for yourself in Pingchuan City."
"Cars, property, designer bags, luxury watches..."
"Anything you think you’ll need over the next two years—buy whatever you want."
"The money must be spent, not saved or invested in any form!"
"If you fail to spend it all in 24 hours, the challenge is over."
Maomao: "!!!"
Chen Qimeng: "!!!"
Lin Yu: "!!!"
Now this was what you called a bombshell!
Maomao was shocked because, in all her life, she’d never spent such an astronomical sum.
Anything she needed had always been provided for her!
Figuring out what to buy and where to splurge was completely outside her experience.
Chen Qimeng was floored by her friend’s staggering wealth.
She knew Du Ruxue was rich, but this rich?
30 million yuan...
just to test a child’s growth?
This was a lifestyle she couldn’t even dream of.
As for Lin Yu, his shock stemmed from...
wanting to check Du Ruxue’s ID to see if it read "Wang Duoyu’s Second Uncle"!
30 million?
Why not make it a billion while you’re at it?!
The games of the wealthy were bafflingly consistent—and infuriating.
Why not let him try?
He’d never handled big money either,
but he’d blow through it all in a day, guaranteed!
...
(Extra chapter delivered! That’s all for today’s update. Goodnight, friends! If you have time, check out the ads—support the author with some love-powered electricity!)
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
